


All of You Pt. 2

by C3Conner



Series: Hell Raising, Love Finding [5]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Food, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:47:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23188009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/C3Conner/pseuds/C3Conner
Summary: Reno gets entranced and a chase begins.
Relationships: Reno/Cloud Strife
Series: Hell Raising, Love Finding [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1447888
Comments: 7
Kudos: 24





	All of You Pt. 2

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to add this note that I see this as a look into Reno's brain on how he got the balls to give Cloud that kiss. I realized that it is a step back since it does take place in the past as a recollection. I wanted to show that Reno had made a conscious decision to chase after Cloud and this the story of when that started.
> 
> This story is inspired, PARTIALLY, by "All of You" by Maya Luna from their fantastic album Holy Darkness: A Tantric Opus.
> 
> http://mayaluna.bandcamp.com/album/holy-darkness-a-tantric-opus

Cloud’s a mess. Plain and simple. 

He is crafting himself into a shining, glimmering patchwork bright enough to steal your breathe now that he gets that he’s just one dude. He is still a wreck though. Always has been apparently.

Maybe it is the Planet’s personal joke: hey, here’s your ACTUAL savior in all of his jumbled edges and slimy feelings and edgy grayness. This is the person that will save all yo asses, but he is just as broken, if not worst, then all of you. The larger than life men you placed upon a pedestal have fallen all around his feet and you are now looking at breathing wreckage. A curse and blessing in one go.

Reno loves it. There is NOTHING quite fucked up like the blond. The man was stripped of his own mind (arguably his soul) by a company that he joined after being rejected by his own people for shit that wasn’t just old news, it was skewed as fuck. 

Yet, he still pushed forward. When faced down by demons that Cloud couldn’t even imagine or put faces to, he still pushed forward. Yeah, there was some bitching and moaning but at the end of the day it was still handled. When faced with the fact that he was strapping on his dead friend’s personality over a blank canvas and that his own body was no longer totally his, he lost his cool for a bit then got right back into the fight. When Cloud was essentially punished for being shoved into a tube of pure LifeStream and poison for daring to know a bro by the Planet, he still growled and huffed his way towards another glory anyway.

Reno really couldn’t blame anybody for wanting Cloud to suffer silently. Even he was disappointed that Cloud wasn’t still dancing for them. But that didn’t mean stop Reno from enjoying those growls and snarls. Those flashing eyes continually plagued by eye bags and annoyance over being shoved into different roles and told to chase certain goals. 

Even the ex-Turk did it occasionally.

It was vague memories from a life dead and gone before he stupidly sank that Plate that kept making him want to shove the kid into an uniform again. He had hungered for that mousy kid that jumped like Reno had shot at him whenever he took a corner too fast on a late night haunting their workplace. The one that passively trailed behind Zack and guarded doorways.  
A kid too busy polishing the stars in his pretty eyes to realize that they were killing him. They didn’t succeed though. It didn’t seem like anything was gonna succeed in killing Cloud Strife, except for Cloud Strife.

It was a habit to observe people. The activity was both entertaining and lifesaving so Reno had never even batted a lash at quitting. Ex-Turks never stopped being Ex-Turks, according to Vincent. They had been shooting the shit over some brews at the bar late one night (maybe it had been morning by that point.) A strip or two of gray was beginning to highlight Vincent’s temples from the stress of life and having been ripped a new one thanks to a demon being separated from his soul or whatever that shit was. The ex-Ex-Turks had subtly drawn weapons at a glass breaking due to a clumsy and happily tossed customer without batting any lashes. The cold barrel had sat cocked on Reno’s bony knee ready to blow a hole in anyone or thing prepared to be dumb enough. The red head had shot the older man a stink eye for that one once they had mentally cleared the scene. He wasn’t anybody’s perch, damn it. Vincent had shrugged casually muttering a low “Sorry, old habits.” It had been a later time that Reno had brought it up to the wanderer and had been told “Ex-Turks don’t die, they just retire in a puddle of blood.” True to edgy form as always. 

It was true though.

Turks didn’t retire, you lived that way for the rest of your days. So he had continued to watch and it all left him gasping in awe when it came to Cloud Strife. What kind of person took on that many burdens willingly? Reno had barely been willing (see: able) to handle what was the bullshit each time they had to go play heroes. It was playing for the rest of them. They slapped on cheap old make-up and over-sized clothes compared to the sheer heroics of what Cloud was capable of.

Cloud deserved to have his happy ending. Sitting on porch fondly gazing out at the two kids he had taken on with his busty gal. Occasionally get up to some lightweight mischief that ended with a good story and a tall one. For fuck’s sake, the kid had paid his dues as well as everybody else’s it seemed and yet it wasn’t enough apparently. Passing conversations of banging and machinery erecting a glorified shed behind the brick and mortar of the Seventh Heaven had sent Reno hunting for answers. Why was the kid doing it? Wasn’t he living in content boring theatrics with his beau? 

No, she wasn’t his beau. It had been a firm answer on every tongue wagging. The neighbors had heard the confession and heartbreak due to the sheer volume. Two people so in love with the ideals of love that they hadn’t realized they weren’t actually in it. Rude had informed him that Tifa had taken it personally. The red head had pitied her for that. A normal life where she played happy mother and wife had been yanked from the woman’s grasp by something that no one could truly know, because the person affected didn’t even get it. It was sad that the blond couldn’t catch a break, not even from biology or whatever made people like what they liked. 

Reno had gone to observe upon a whim. Originally, there was no plan to do more than that but he had gotten suckered into helping. To some (see: a lot), it was an obnoxious asshole swinging up odd hours to bother the solitary swordsman only willing to lift a finger if a beer was nearby. Or at least that’s what Tifa had bitched one time that Reno came through. Reno lived up to the title and informed her at least he wasn’t trying to make a queer dude not queer. (That had earned him a very busted nose from Rude, fair.)

It took him roughly a week before he was willing to head down the streets to the Seventh Heaven and grumble an apology though. He needed to sort something out for himself. Like the butterflies that had kicked up when she had snapped “Yes, Cloud’s gay and I didn’t know.” He didn’t get butterflies about her not knowing. He got butterflies, because there was a chance. A hope.

Which began the courting. Or at least that’s what Elena had referred to it as. What would she know though? She couldn’t even pick up on Tseng’s whole, not into anyone thing but whatever.

At first, he would just actually pay for his beer and Cloud’s since it seemed fair. Can’t make a man pay for his own drink while you are eating all of his food, right? After that, the red head had started making a point to grab food for the both of them to share due to Rude disclosing that he had overheard Cloud discussing with Tifa that Reno ate a lot. Which to be fair he did. It made perfectly logical sense to start bringing something to make up for how much he could chow down. That had lead eventually to grabbing other things for the blond on his little excursions out of Midgar like a random bottle opener made to look like a cactuar or a frame for Cloud’s photo of the last reunion they had all been able to make two years ago. He couldn’t help it. Cloud would get a strange, little tilt to his mouth when looking at some of the stuff in a way that showed that he was pleased while trying so damn hard not to care and it just set Reno’s whole damn world on fire. Like watching him that day with the Ravens. How could he not want to lay into this man?! He wasn’t blind or stupid, despite what everyone said. 

Then the lanky ex-Turk had been stroll through the outdoor market one brisk day wondering what he should grab for lunch and smelled something interesting and meaty so he followed the smell. A robust man hollering about the glories of a thick stew from Nibelheim’s finest traditions of culinary arts stirred around a stew and the price hadn’t been bad so he forked over some gil. Reno had just wanted to know if the guy was full of shit or not so he had changed his route to Cloud’s place. 

He had been apparently, because even Cloud whose manners about food pointed more towards having been deprived couldn’t resist spitting it out. Cloud had swiftly snatched up the offending bowls despite Reno’s protests and tossed them directly into his outside bin. So much for that. 

Two days later, Reno had slunk into Cloud’s place sporting a black eye and snarl itching for something that he couldn’t quite place. Cloud had cast a look over his board shoulder in the middle of washing a bright white dish to bark “If you are gonna be a shit head about that black eye you got talking shit instead of doing your job, I’m gonna throw out your portion.” The red head had straightened up from his usual perch and fixed him with a look making the swordsman spin about to face him. They had glared across the divide of well-lit kitchen until Reno had caved and snapped “Yeah, yeah, dontcha ever feel like not being right?” Cloud had blessed him with the prettiest shit eating grin that made Reno want to just puke at the brightness and marched over to the dinged frig. 

(It had been a bitch to move and Reno still wasn’t sure why Cloud had insisted on making him help, the Planet knew he could left that bad bitch by his damn self yet Reno had done it with only a touch of whining.)

The blond had pulled out a clear dish that held a light brown liquid that sloshed occasionally and dumped it in a large pot already on the stove. Cloud had turned it on then wondered over to the wooden seat across from Reno and perched there seemingly content judging from the soft eyes and tiny grin. The red head couldn’t resist as a few strands of corn husk yellow hair dangled in the Cloud’s face and brushed them back behind his ear. “Keep your hands to yourself,” Cloud had grumbled while swatting at Reno’s hands making him snort roughly. It had devolved from there into them discussing business and Cloud informing him that he had recently delivered a month before to Kalm which reminded him why he liked it so much. 

“Ya actually like it,” Reno had questioned over the top of his beer that he left a week prior in Cloud’s frig after a spat over whose beer tastes were better and Cloud had replied low “Yeah, closest thing to Nibelheim left.” The tantalizing scent of beef, something creamy and what Reno knew instinctively, as a single expert bachelor, as bacon suddenly smelled like ash. 

Sea foam met baby blue and something came out that the ex-Turk had never uttered, “I’m sorry, Cloud. I’m sorry for my part in that, yo. I ain't gonna pretend this fixes it, it don't.” He gestured loosely at the kitchen knowing that Cloud would get it, that the ‘it’ he spoke of was helping in building this home. Nothing that Reno never could or would do (he was finding more and more often lately that there really was very little that he wouldn’t do for the sassy swordsman) that would take any of that shit show back. The blond’s adam’s apple had bobbed erratically in a way that was just barely concealed by him knocking back his beer while he muttered “No, it doesn’t.” It landed right over Reno’s heart making him choke a little and clear his throat awkwardly. The air once filled with idle noise and excellent foods smells had gone silent and sour during the discussion with no real way for Reno to figure out how to right it. A timer went off on Cloud’s stove that Reno had missed causing him to startle and sent the other across the kitchen. He moved gracefully as ever which really twisted the knife in Reno’s heart, because how dare he want a taste of a man that he had a hand in fucking wrecking? He didn’t deserve a moment of his time. That was that. The ex-Turk had considered a tactical retreat at that point, but something happened.

Cloud had managed to ladle a portion for each of them into his dishes and turn back at Reno saying something “not again.” “Sorry, blondie, I missed half of that,” he admitted sheepishly liking his idea of tucking tail even more. “I said,” the mako enhanced man said clearly looking ready to roll his eyes “Home won’t be Nibelheim, not again. Nibelheim is gone or at least my Nibelheim is. There’s no changing that.” He had strolled casually over placing Reno’s bowl down carefully allowing for him to make maximum eye contact with the other. Reno couldn’t and wouldn’t blink. He couldn’t spit on whatever he felt for Cloud by not listening to the dude. “But home can be wherever the fuck I choose,” Cloud finished and plopped inelegantly into his usual seat. Dusky light shown through window lighting a golden halo around the delivery man’s head as he clarified “I no longer want Nibelheim back. I don’t want Zack or Aerith back as much as I did either, they deserve their peace. What I want back is me. This place has helped me with that. This is my little oasis and I needed it. So thank you Reno for your part in building it and I forgive you for your part in something a lot bigger than you that nobody REALLY understood that wrecked my first home.”

Reno had stared mouth open and too startled for words after taking in Cloud munching contentedly on his bowl of beef stew. What the Hels was he supposed to say to that poetic ass shit?! Damn, that slimy fuck Genesis couldn’t have been that smooth even. Finally after what felt like decades the pretty man huffed while clinked his bowl and teasing, “Well, did I finally find a way to shut you up AND make you lose your appetite? Don’t let your food get cold. I want to know if it’s good, I made it from memory and that makes it sketchy at best.” The lanky man chuckled at that noting how the air in the home had managed to settle back into the usual comfortable way. He ate a couple of bites noting a surprising tang that complimented the creaminess of what was definitely beef and bacon and something else savoring each bite. Yeah, he could definitely get used to this. Reno glanced over taking in the visage of the man before him replying simply “Yeah, shit’s perfect.”

That’s when he decided that if this was gonna be “courtship” then he was gonna give Cloud the whole Goddess damn Planet. It only seemed fair after all.


End file.
